Existing U.S. Coal Plants

To see a nationwide list of over 600 coal plants in the United States, click here. To see a listing of coal plants in a particular state, click on the map:



This page provides information on existing U.S. coal-fired power plants. For a list of proposed coal plants and coal plants that are under construction, click here.

Overview
In 2009, the Energy Information Administration listed 594 coal-fired power plants in the U.S., down from 645 coal-fired power plants in 2001. Of these 594 plants, 341 were owned by electric utilities, 100 by independent power producers, and the remainder by industrial and commercial producers of combined heat and power. In 2009, the 594 U.S. coal plants included a total of 1,436 generating units (many plants have multiple units), and a total of 338,723 MW (megawatts) of nameplate production capacity, or 314,294 MW of net summer capacity.

While the size of the coal fleet steadily shrank from 2001 to 2009, average capacity factor (the ratio of the actual output of a plant to the theoretical maximum output if the plant ran continuously) increased from 69.2 percent in 2001 to 73.6 percent in 2007, before falling to 63.8 percent in 2009. In 2010, coal plants produced 1,850,750 Gigawatthours of electricity, or 44.9 percent of total U.S. electricity production. At the peak year of coal's contribution to U.S. power production, 1988, coal produced 57.0% of U.S. power. Coal's share in power production has fallen due to major increases in production from natural gas and smaller increases from nuclear and renewables.

For more information on coal plant capacity and generation, see Coal-fired power plant capacity and generation.

U.S. Coal-Fired Power Production in the Global Context
In 2008, the U.S. produced approximately 2,133,000 GWh (gigawatt hours) of electricity from coal (one GWh is the amount of power produced by a 1,000 MW power plant running for one hour), accounting for about a quarter of the world's  coal-fired electricity: In 2004, U.S. coal-fired power plants produced 2,154.6 million tons of CO2 – 35.8% of total U.S. CO2 emissions, and 8.0% of total world CO2 emissions. To put this in perspective, U.S. coal-fired power plants produced more CO2 in 2004 than was emitted by all sources in all of Africa, South America, and Central America combined.

Stagnant Capacity, Varying Output
From 1990 to 2009, the net capacity of the U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet remained virtually unchanged, increasing by only 7 Gigawatts (MW) or 2.5% during the entire 17-year period. The output of these plants increased from 1990 to 2007 before falling in 2009. This means that although the existing fleet was not growing in size, plants were being run more intensively. This is reflected in the average capacity factor of the fleet, which rose from 59% to 74% from 1990 to 2007, then fell to 64% in 2009. (Capacity factor refers to the ratio of the actual output of a plant to the theoretical maximum output if the plant ran continuously.)

'''Coal-fired power plant capacity and generation

State-by-State Capacity and Output
Here's a sortable table of U.S. states, ranked by the total amount of electricity each state produced from coal in 2005. To sort the table, click on a column header. The median family income of the top 15 coal-producing states was $44,922 in 2006 ($3,529 below the U.S. median); the median family income of the bottom 15 coal-producing states was $52,833 ($4,382 above the U.S. median).

Here's a breakdown of existing U.S. coal-fired generating units by size: Thus, the 29 plants that are larger than 2,000 MW have a greater generating capacity than the 392 plants that are smaller than 500 MW.

Here's a breakdown of existing U.S. coal-fired generating units (not overall plants) by age:

The median existing U.S. coal-fired generating station was built in January 1966.

Plant retirements and conversions
The following sortable table lists recent and upcoming (including probable) coal plant retirements in the United States. In some cases, plants are being converted to use biomass or natural gas. To sort the table by a column, click on the column header. Clicking a second time on the header will reverse the order of the sort.

For plant-by-plant details, see Coal plant retirements.

Ownership of Existing U.S. Coal-Fired Generating Stations
In 2005, there were 1,522 coal-fired generating units in the U.S., with 335,891 MW of capacity. The following companies (with their current subsidiaries) were the top producers of coal-fired electricity in the U.S. in 2005: These 25 largest operators of coal plants (all privately-owned corporations, with the exception of the TVA, which is a publicly-owned corporation) own 264 out of the 614 coal-fired power plants in the U.S.; these 264 plants produced a total of 1,425,653 GWh of electricity in 2005 (70.8% of total U.S. coal-fired power production). The coal plants owned by these 25 entities also produced 7,679,776 tons of SO2 in 2005, equivalent to 52.2% of all U.S. SO2 emissions from all sources.

Additionally, these 25 entities had combined total revenues of $348.63 billion in 2007 (which is equivalent to 2.4% of the total U.S. GDP). The U.S. coal industry is a big, big business, and its main players – who control the vast majority of U.S. coal power production – are among the biggest corporations in the country. (Dominion, Southern, AES, Duke, Edison, FirstEnergy, Entergy, Reliant, Progress, Xcel, DTE, Ameren, PPL, CMS, and NRG are all among the Fortune 500; MidAmerican is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the 13th biggest corporation in the U.S., and E.ON - based in Germany - is the biggest electric utility in the world. )

Cost of Electricity from Existing Coal Plants
As of July, 2008, the average cost of coal supplied to existing coal plants in the United States was $2.09 per million BTU. At 34.3% efficiency for a typical coal plant, that translates to 2.08 cents per kilowatt hour for coal. Operation and maintenance is approximately 0.75 cents per kilowatt hour. So total fuel and operating costs for a typical coal plant is 2.83 cents per kilowatt hour. Since the median age of existing coal plants is 44 years, most are already fully amortized. That means their owners have fully paid off the construction costs, and operating and fuel costs are the only components of cost.

For more on the financial risks of coal energy investment, see Financial Risks of Coal Energy Investment.

External Costs of Existing Coal Plants
In economics, an external cost or externality is a negative effect of an economic activity on a third party.External costs of coal plants include the following: Among the impacts of coal plants are the fine particulates released directly or produced indirectly by sulfur dioxide emissions. According to a 2004 study released by the Clean Air Task Force, fine particulates from power plants result in nearly 24,000 annual deaths, with 14 years lost on average for each death. Based on social decisions in other contexts such as transportation and medicine, researchers report (see below) that American society is willing to spend $129,090 to avoid the loss of a year of life. This suggests that society would be willing to spend at an additional $40 billion (i.e., 24,000 annual deaths x 14 years lost x $129,000 per year lost) for alternative ways of generating electricity that did not produce deadly pollution. With US coal plants generating about 2 billion Gigawatt hours annually, the expenditure of an additional $40 billion would raise the cost of electricity by about two cents per kilowatt hour.
 * Reduction in life expectancy (particulates, sulfur dioxide, ozone, heavy metal, benzene, radionuclides, etc.)
 * Respiratory hospital admissions (particulates, ozone, sulfur dioxide)
 * Congrestive heart failure (particulates and carbon monoxide)
 * Non-fatal cancer, osteroporosia, ataxia, renal dysfunction (benzene, radionuclines, heavy metal, etc.)
 * Chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks, etc. (particulates, ozone)
 * Loss of IQ (mercury)
 * Degradation and soiling of buildings (sulfur dioxide, acid deposition, particulates)
 * Reduction of crop yields (NOx, sulfur dioxide, ozone, acid deposition); some emissions may also have a fertilizing effect (nitrogen and sulfur deposition)
 * Global warming (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide)
 * Ecosystem loss and degradation

For more on the external costs of coal, see External costs of coal.

Impact of Climate Change Legislation on Existing U.S. Coal Plants
It remains unclear how the proposed Waxman-Markey Climate Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2009 and heads to discussion by the Senate in the Fall, will impact existing coal plants. Although the version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) that passed the House requires a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions from new coal plants by 2025, it mandates no specific reduction requirements for existing plants. Environmental groups and public health advocates are concerned that, by driving up the cost of new plants and offering free emissions allowances or carbon offsets for older facilities, the bill may result in even heavier reliance on an aging fleet of coal plants. Some groups have expressed concern that the climate change legislation may end up having similar issues to the 1977 Clean Air Act, which grandfathered in older plants and largely exempted them from requirements that facilities use the best available pollution-control technologies. Environmental advocates hope that the Senate will add regulations to ACES that will lead to the closure of older, highly polluting plants.

Retrofitting Existing Coal Plants for Carbon Capture
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, it is not economical to retrofit existing coal plants with carbon capture technology:
 * Existing CO2 capture technologies are not cost-effective when considered in the context of large power plants. Economic studies indicate that carbon capture will add over 30 percent to the cost of electricity for new integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) units and over 80 percent to the cost of electricity if retrofitted to existing pulverized coal (PC) units. A recent study from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) confirms that additional alternatives need to be pursued to bring the cost of carbon capture down. In addition, the net electricity produced from existing plants would be significantly reduced - often referred to as parasitic loss - since 20 to 30 percent of the power generated by the plant would have to be used to capture and compress the CO2.

SO2 Pollution and Pollution Controls
In 1970, the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Air Act, which regulated the emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2), among other forms of pollution. SO2 contributes strongly to acid rain, and causes or exacerbates respiratory illnesses. However, the legislation allowed for exemptions for older power plants. This legislation has been strengthened since then: in 1977, the New Source Review increased compliance by states, while the EPA's Clean Air Interstate Rule, passed in 2005, requires a 57% cut in U.S. SO2 emissions by 2015. (Roughly 60% of U.S. SO2 emissions come from coal-fired power plants.) Especially since 2005, many utilities have begun attaching SO2 scrubbers to their coal-fired generating stations. However, many plants still do not have adequate - or even any - SO2 controls.

According to data from the Energy Information Administration, the following proportions of coal-fired power plants with capacity over 100 MW had SO2 scrubbers in 2005:

It is possible that some coal-fired plants with SO2 scrubbers did not report their scrubbers to the EIA, and thus that the above table overstates the number of plants without SO2 controls. However, out of 257 U.S. coal-fired power plants which produced more than 2,000 GWh of power in 2006, 86 had SO2 emissions that were higher than 10 lb/MWh – compared with an average of 1 lb/MWh for coal plants with state-of-the-art SO2 scrubbers. We can surmise that these 86 plants almost certainly have zero or extremely minimal SO2 scrubbers, or have SO2 scrubbers that were not functioning in 2006.

A more recent survey (June 2008) of coal-fired power plants conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency found that 209,000 MW out of 329,000 MW of capacity, or 63.5%, had no scrubbers. Of the 120,000 MW fitted with scrubbers, 104,000 MW represented wet fluidized gas disposal systems and 16,200 MW represented dry fluidized gas disposal systems.

The following table summarizes the findings of the EPA survey (June 2008):

In 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency released projections about future scrubber systems at coal-fired power plants. The following table shows the EPA's projections for scrubbers in 2009 and 2010. The reason that the total capacity represented by these figures is lower than the figures shown above (316,000 MW in 2009 and 318,000 MW in 2010, compared to the 329,000 MW shown above for of capacity survey in 2008), is that these figures are based on a database that uses summer and winter capacity rather than nameplate capacity.

The following table summarizes the data from EPA's 2008 survey and 2009/2010 projections:

Here is a comprehensive list of these 86 dirtiest large U.S. coal-fired power plants in 2006, in terms of SO2 emissions:

While the 86 plants shown in the table above have a capacity of 107.1 GW, or 9.9% of total U.S. electric capacity, they emitted 5,389,592 tons of SO2 in 2006; this represents 28.6% of U.S. SO2 emissions from all sources.

These dirtiest big coal-fired power plants – many of which are among the oldest in the country (the median age of the 86 plants is 45 years) – are mostly owned by the biggest U.S. coal energy companies. Here is a list of the owners of these 86 dirtiest big coal-fired power plants, ranked by total capacity of the dirtiest coal plants that they own, and including a ranking of the company's position in the coal energy industry: Thus, even though SO2 scrubbers have become significantly less expensive in recent years, many of the biggest coal energy companies in the country – many of which have billions of dollars of annual revenues – have failed to install SO2 scrubbers on many of their oldest and dirtiest coal plants.

Oldest existing coal plants
These are the oldest existing coal plants in the U.S.:

2010 Report: New EPA regulations could make old coal plants prohibitively expensive
According to the 2010 report "Impact of EPA Rules on Power Markets," by Credit Suisse, tougher federal air pollution rules that will be coming in the next few years could prompt electricity companies to close as many as 1 in every 5 coal-burning power plants in America, primarily facilities more than 40 years old that lack emissions controls.

The regulations being crafted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), expected to go into force in April and November 2011 in accordance with the Clean Air Act, are aimed at reducing mercury, acid rain, and smog-forming emissions from utility smokestacks. The study found that the EPA rules, combined with a recent drop in the price of natural gas, could over the next four to five years cause the utility industry to accelerate retirement of old coal-fired power plants rather than spend to upgrade the plants' emissions controls.

After expected emissions upgrades, the coal fleet will continue to have plants, producing about 103,000 megawatts, that are still "lacking any major emission controls," the study says. The oldest, smallest coal plants with few emissions controls make up an "at-risk" of closure portion that account for about 20 percent of total US coal-fired generating capacity, or 69,000 megawatts. The cost to cut sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mercury emissions could run $50 billion to $70 billion, not counting the oldest plants. Upgrading those would cost another $80 billion to $110 billion.

Data sources on existing coal plants

 * Electric Power Annual - U.S. Energy Information Administration: The EIA's annual reports on the electric power sector provide 12 years of summary statistics on capacity, generation, fuel consumption, fuel cost, loads, electricity prices, plant capacity factors, heat rates, sales, revenues, and other characteristics of the U.S. coal fleet.


 * All Reports & Publications - U.S. Energy Information Administration: This EIA page allows users to search for reports on energy by fuel type and by topic.


 * Electricity Data Files - U.S. Energy Information Administration: This page provides links to statistics for individual generating units.

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Campus coal plants
 * Climate impacts of coal plants
 * Coal
 * Coal and jobs in the United States
 * Coal and transmission
 * Coal-fired power plant capacity and generation
 * Coal moratorium
 * Coal phase-out
 * Coal plant conversion projects
 * Coal plant retirements
 * Coal plants near residential areas
 * Coal waste
 * Comparative electrical generation costs
 * Dispelling the myths of the acid rain story
 * Divestment and shareholder action on coal
 * Environmental impacts of coal
 * Former coal plants
 * Global warming
 * Google Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal initiative
 * Gore zero-carbon proposal
 * Mercury and coal
 * Oldest existing coal plants
 * Opposition to existing coal plants
 * Retrofit vs. Phase-Out of Coal-Fired Power Plants
 * Scrubber Retrofits at Existing Coal Plants
 * Sulfur dioxide and coal
 * United States and coal
 * U.S. Coal Capacity by Year